What is EVIL?

I am currently reading Gregory Maguire's Wicked, the book that inspired the hit Broadway musical of the same name. If you haven't heard of the book yet, it's basically a retelling of Frank L. Baum's classic children's story The Wizard Of Oz - in the Wicked Witch Of The West's point of view. The book explores and explains why the Witch's evilness came to be, and why she was obsessed with those silver (yeah - they aren't ruby) shoes.

Anyway, there's a scene in the book where the Witch (then known as Elphaba) has just "killed" her old school's headmistress, and she was at a party hosted by her old quasifriend, Avaric. At the dinner table, the topic of what evil is was raised up, and the responses were pretty interesting.

There's a hole in my sidewalk.

I've been reading The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Teens recently, and it had really changed my life! Actually, right now I am holding it (because I am currently editing my mission statement). Anyway, one of the habits in the book is to be proactive, which means you have to take responsibility for your actions, and you shouldn't let anything, be it people or circumstances, control you.